Jones, No. 9 Louisville beat So. Mississippi 69-38

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP)

Any jitters Terry Rozier had in his first career start weren't
apparent as he quickly made two 3-pointers that helped set an
offensive tone for Louisville.

Chris Jones followed Rozier's lead by sinking a few more from
long range while contributing to the kind of defensive performance
coach Rick Pitino wanted.

Nothing like a shakeup to make things happen.

Jones came off the bench to score 18 points, including four
3-pointers, and the No. 9 Cardinals bounced back from their first
loss to roll past Southern Mississippi 69-38 Friday night.

Five days after a lackluster effort in a 93-84 loss to North
Carolina, the Cardinals (6-1) were better on both ends with the
help of two new starters. Freshman guard Rozier got things going
offensively by making his first three from beyond the arc en route
to nine points, while 6-foot-10 redshirt freshman center Mangok
Mathiang had seven rebounds and three blocks.

''For a freshman to get a start, it builds my confidence up,''
said Rozier, who added three assists in 19 minutes.

Added Jones, ''I'm happy for him. He deserved it.''

Jones made 4 of 7 from long range and 5 of 10 overall.
Louisville shot 23 of 55 (42 percent) and matched a season high
with 12 3-pointers on 31 attempts.

The Cardinals' trademark pressure defense forced 22 turnovers
and stifled the Golden Eagles (6-1) at the start of both halves,
holding them scoreless for more than 12 combined minutes. USM's
total points set a season low for a Louisville opponent.

''That was a tail whipping,'' USM coach Donnie Tyndall said.
''Their team was obviously better coached and more prepared than
our team. I say that sincerely and I mean it.''

Michael Craig's nine points led the Golden Eagles, who shot 13
of 45 from the field (29 percent).

The Cardinals had nowhere to go but up after losing to the Tar
Heels in a game marked by bad shots against the zone and frequent
defensive breakdowns. A hard week of practice followed and Pitino
changed his starting lineup, inserting Rozier into Jones' starting
spot with Mathiang supplanting Stephan Van Treese in the
middle.

''I don't really don't care who starts but I was doing it
because I wanted to get Terry some confidence,'' Pitino said. ''He
wasn't playing the way the Terry Rozier I've seen in practice. I
just wanted to get him some early minutes and getting him feeling
good about himself. It was nothing anybody did wrong.''

It took just 21 seconds for the moves to start paying off as
Rozier buried the first of back-to-back 3-pointers followed by
Mathiang's jumper off the glass as Louisville scored the first 13
points over 5:02. Though 5-of-9 shooting helped, improved ball
movement against the Golden Eagles' zone set up those chances as
the patient Cardinals worked it around, inside and out in recording
12 assists, more than they had in both of the past two games.

Though the Cardinals' good shooting cooled off to 12 of 29 (41
percent) by halftime as Louisville attempted 17 from beyond the
arc, the opportunities were there and Jones came off the bench to
sink of 2 of 3. Left out of the early fun were Smith - who had 36
points in Sunday's loss - and Hancock, whose combined 0-for-8 start
from long range left them scoreless at the break.

Hancock finished with five points while Smith hit 5 of 8 from
the field.

''It was one of those games where the defense decides whether or
not I'm going to score,'' Smith said. ''They didn't want me to
score and I wasn't going to take any bad shots.''

More impressive was Louisville's defensive energy that Pitino
compared to last year's championship team. The Cardinals held
Southern Mississippi scoreless for the first 5:30 of the game and
the initial 6:54 of the second half, paving the way for the kind of
performance Pitino hopes will become a habit.

''We want to play how we did last season,'' the coach said.
''Last year we played about 70 percent man(-to-man), and that is
what we did tonight. It confuses people and gets them out of
rhythm.

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